It’s been nice to enjoy the apricity of a few sunny days at the end of a long week that started with some crazy winter weather. Apricity is a new word (to me) and it is really an old English word that refers to the warmth of the sun during wintertime. So I'm sharing a few rays of sunshine with you before I dig into this week’s legislative news. And if you want to check out this week’s legislative update in audio form, listen to this “podcast” created through Google NotebookLM. This AI tool summarizes content and creates an engaging back and forth conversation between two AI hosts.
The news this week is all about the budget and which bills with fiscal implications will continue to move. The second significant cutoff of the legislative session is today when bills must pass out of the fiscal committees. Many bills aren’t going to make it because of the costs needed to implement them, potentially including HB 1795, addressing restraint and isolation. Unfortunately, despite some extraordinary lobbying efforts, some bills were amended in fiscal committees to greatly reduce their impact. HB 1338 (MSOC) was amended just today and instead of $300 million to cover these costs, the bill now only provides $5 million.
Our state’s budget shortfall was in the spotlight this week. On Monday, the House Democrats added these updates to their website about the “Book 1 Budget” which Governor Inslee was required to prepare. This is an all cuts and no revenue budget that is different from the one he publicly shared in December that included a new source of revenue via a wealth tax. “Book 1” cuts of over $3 billion would be very difficult for health care, early learning, higher education, and other sectors in our state. What is defined as “K-12 basic education” would continue to be funded but savings from putting a pause on National Board bonuses for teachers is included. You can see more details about this “Book 1 budget” here.
Yesterday, Governor Ferguson held a press conference to review his plan to cut another $4 billion from our budget. His proposal maintains basic education funding as well. Senate Republicans released a statement about his proposal and welcomed his suggested spending reductions. They raised questions about the actual dollar amount of our budget shortfall as well as the increases in pay for state workers and the suggested furlough days that Governor Ferguson proposed.
After the fiscal committee cutoff today, lawmakers will turn their attention to floor action to pass bills (or not) out of each chamber before the next cutoff date of March 12. Then, the bills move to the other chamber and the process repeats itself all over.
Bills that continue to move include bills related to special education, financial education, chronically absent students, competency-based education, instruction in tribal sovereignty, transition to Kindergarten and more. My complete bill tracking list for now is linked here because I can’t run the next cutoff report until Saturday. My bill tracking list will look even shorter next week.
Discipline Rules
As you know, OSPI released emergency discipline rules related to classroom exclusions at the start of the school year. They have now opened public comment on the proposed permanent rules and we strongly encourage you to submit feedback to OSPI (even a short email) to ensure that building perspectives are heard. There are several ways you can provide feedback. You can send written comments to StudentDiscipline@k12.wa.us by March 19 or you can attend a virtual hearing on March 4 via Zoom. You can also show up in person at one of four locations across the state. For more details, read my blog here.
Take Action NOW for Simple Majority for Bonds
Please take action now and send an email to your legislators about supporting a simple majority for bonds. This is an easy way to get the word out across our state that K-12 education needs their support.
Click on the link above, and scroll down the page until you see the orange “Action Alert” on simple majority. Enter your home or school address and then you’ll see a prewritten email that will go to your legislators. You can also add more information or anecdotes to this email if you’d like.
Get Involved
As always, many thanks for all that you do for students and staff. If you have questions or comments or want to get involved in our advocacy efforts, please reach out to me.
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Important Links
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